Jerry Lynn Is Back!

As seen this past weekend on “Ring of Honor Wrestling” TV, things were shaken up quite a bit with the announcement of Nigel McGuinness as the new Authority Figure for ROH!

Nigel set the Steen vs. Generico World Title Ladder War, he set the SCUM/Briscoes/C&C Sudden Death World Tag Title bout, introduced a new TV Title belt, and right before the TV Title bout between Kyle O'Reilly and Adam Cole started, announced to the world that at “Final Battle 2012” former ROH World Champion Jerry Lynn would make his return for one last match!

Lynn has quite a storied history within Ring of Honor, making his first appearance at “Road to the Title”in 2002 where he lost to AJ Styles in the 1st round of the ROH Title tournament. It was quite awhile before Lynn's schedule was open again to bring him back to ROH, but at “The Last Stand” in January of 2004, Samoa Joe selected him as his partner in Joe's final shot at the Tag Titles then held by Jay & Mark Briscoe. The duo proved unsuccessful that night Lynn returned two months later for “At Our Best” and a bout with Nigel McGuinness...little did any of us know that that one match would ultimately become one of the biggest rivalries of McGuinness' ROH World Title reign.

Lynn returned to the fold over four years later at “Vendetta II” where he took on none other than reigning World Champion McGuinness in a non-title bout. Nigel was victorious but somewhat disrespectful in the process yet Lynn still congratulated him on the victory. That impressive outing for Lynn parlayed into him working on nearly every event in one tremendous match after another with the likes of Chris Hero, Claudio Castagnoli, Davey Richards, and Tyler Black but the direction of his ROH career became very clear at “Southern Hostility” where the roads of Lynn& McGuinness crossed once more.

That night Lynn challenged Nigel for the ROH World Title but unlike their last encounter where McGuinness defeated Jerry straight-up, this one ended with Nigel cheating to get the victory and retain his title. Following the bout, Nigel proceeded to verbally run Jerry down which provoked Lynn to lay him out and set Lynn on the path to earning another shot at the title.

For the next few months Lynn went on a tear, defeating people like Bryan Danielson, Austin Aries, & Mike Quackenbush in singles bouts and pinning Nigel in a tag match at“Insanity Unleashed” which put him in a position to challenge the champion once again. That date with destiny came at “Supercard of Honor IV” on April 3rd in Houston, TX and that night Lynn finally got the monkey off his back when he ended the 545 day reign of Nigel to became the 11th ROH World Champion.

Lynn held the belt for 71 days, successfully defending it 6 times against Hero, Danielson, Roderick Strong, Colt Cabana, Jay Briscoe, and on the night after he won the title, the combination of Danielson, D'lo Brown, & Erick Stevens. It was Austin Aries who brought his reign to an end at “Manhattan Mayhem III” but Lynn remained in the title picture until the day he left ROH as well as fighting it out in some memorable clashes against Kenny King & Steve Corino during our Phoenix events in March 2010.

One of the hardest working men in wrestling, Jerry Lynn has not been seen inside an ROH ring since August 2010 on Episode 71 of the “ROH on HDNet” series where he was defeated by Kevin Steen. Since that time Lynn has continued to travel the world and work his heart out at a level few other men ever attain.

Now this former World Champion, one of the most respected men to ever grace our ring, is set to make his return on December 16th at “Final Battle 2012: Doomsday”for one final match in front of the Ring of Honor faithful. Come join us as we say thank you and farewell to, not only a true legend of the sport, but also one of the true gentleman of the wrestling world. Jerry Lynn is, and always has been, a class act and it is OUR honor to have him join us at the Hammerstein Ballroom that night.

You can find out Jerry's opponent by taking advantage of our ROH TV Early Bird Access here and you can pick up your tickets for “Final Battle 2012: Doomsday” right here in the ROH Store. If you can't be there in-person, then click here and the iPPV broadcast will be available to order very soon.